Another Story?
by Lady of the Thorn
Summary: Some thoughts as he fades, a much needed but mildly weak explanation as to why Rikku's immaturity level skyrockets in X2, Gippal, and Auron back! Too much. Not another story. Aurikku. Finished.
1. Chapter 1

Woot woot. A new aurikku that is technically a one shot split up into a few short chapters, just because it felt weird to put it all as one. That and it isn't done yet. Ugh. I'll get more things done, even though I've got lots of different things I'm working on. I swear I'm working on everything. Here ya go.

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_As the pyreflies fade…_

What do you do when everything you never wanted is suddenly wrenched from your grasp?

What do you do when suddenly the one person you never thought you'd love is ripped from your arms?

What do you do when that same person has his lips on yours, only to find him gone when you open your eyes, to find that he was never meant to be yours?

What do you do?

**You do what your heart tells you.**

_I want to let him go, let him have the rest he's been waiting for, the rest he deserves. I selfishly just want to keep holding him, to fade with him, never let him go._

What do you do when everything inside you is calling to her, but you can't let her see?

What do you do when she stares at you with big swirling green eyes, the same ones that hypnotized your heart when you first looked into them, when they are filled with tears?

What do you do when she can't, when she won't understand that you have to leave her?

What do you do?

**You do what your heart tells you.**

_I want her to go on with life, to live, to love. I selfishly want her to be mine and only mine, forever._

What do you say when he's disappearing, when he's just up and leaving you, when he knows how much you love him?

What do you say when you find him fading away, knowing that he could have told you, but never did?

What do you say when you know you hate him with every fiber of your being for holding you and loving you when it was all a lie?

What do you say?

**You tell him what's in your heart.**

_I want to yell at him for being a big stupid meanie pants. I want to scream just how much I hate him. I want to tell him softly, want to tell him with grace and poise and charm just how much I love him. I want to ask why he loved me and never told me, leaving me to forever wonder._

What do you say when your form starts to wane, while she stand there in horror?

What do you say when she's looking at you, on the verge of tears, her heart ripped in two?

What do you say when you can see the utter loathing she holds in her eyes because she doesn't understand?

What do you say?

**You tell her what's in your heart.**

_I want to make her understand that I don't want to leave her. I want to tell her that I never meant to hurt her. I want to say to her, gruff and low my voice may be, that I love her. I want to tell her that I'd do anything she asked, just to keep the tears from her eyes._

What do you do when he's gone, and you're hurting, but you can't tell anyone else?

What do you do when you have to be strong, after he's gone, because someone else is gone too?

What do you do when you have to help wipe away someone's tears and you have no one to wipe away your own?

What do you do?

…

_Well?_

What do you do when you watch her from afar, and you can see her pain but can't go to her to comfort her?

What do you do when she cries out for you at night but you can't hold her, can't even touch her?

What do you do when she asks for strength and begs you to come back, but you aren't the one who gets to decide these things?

What do you do?

…

…

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Hope ya liked it. Reviews are always appreciated.

-Hajan Rana


	2. Chapter 2

And the continuation. Like I said, this isn't actually supposed to be a super long thing. I swear I hope I'm not lying.

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"Don't cry Yunie, please don't cry." Rikku's slim figure sat next to her cousin's knees, her own small tear-stained face looking up at Yuna. Rikku was somehow able to smile for Yuna. 

"Thank you," said Yuna softly, her heart torn and bleeding. Even in her sorrow, her crying was quiet, steady, and almost calm. No heaving sobs, but her chest did rise and fall unsteadily.

Rikku jumped up, smiling. "You've done it, Yunie! You've brought about the Calm? An eternal calm! Aren't you happy about that?"

Her voice was hushed. "I am, Rikku. Truly, I am glad for Spira, but…" Her words trailed off, and her eyes closed in pain.

"Come on, Yunie, let's get you to bed. You need some rest. There's gonna be a wild party in Spira tomorrow, all for you." She took her cousin by the hand, gently leading her toward her room on the airship.

"I don't want a party, Rikku," Yuna said softly as they walked. She allowed herself to be put into bed, turning away from her cousin. Her words were whispered, so that Rikku could barely hear them as she left the room.

"I just want him back."

Rikku's face fell as the door closed behind her. Quickly, her nimble feet making soft pitter patters on the cold hard floor, she made her way toward her own room. When she finally returned to her own room, the door sliding closed behind her, she let out a small scream of frustration. She hurled herself onto the bed, curling up into a fetal position, letting the heavy sobs rack her small body. She muffled her screams with the pillow, soaking it clean through. She cried herself to sleep that night, whispers on the wind…

"I just want you back too…"

_Five years later._

Three years passed since Tidus came back. In fact, Vidina was now three, and Tidus and Yuna's first child was turning one.

Rikku watched the two happy families playing on Besaid's beach.

Vidina ran over to her. Little Brecht was under his father's watchful eyes, and his mother's caring smile.

"Look Auntie Rikku! Look what I found!" Vidina cried, showing her a sphere. "I'd have shown Mom and Dad first, but I know you like these things a lot, ya Auntie Rikku?"

Rikku smiled at him. "Thank you, Vidina." She looked at him, then the sphere. Suddenly there was a call from Pops.

"Come on girl! I don't have all day! If you want me to drop you off in Zanarkand, then we need to leave now!"

Rikku rolled her eyes, but quickly made her goodbyes before boarding once more on the airship.

Things were silent as Pops dropped her off.

"I'll pick you up in about 5 hours, okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine."

He left and Rikku was left standing alone on the crest of the hill. Her movements were slow, uncharacteristically so. She put down the sphere, and finding it empty, simply ignored it, not realizing that she had turned it on. Eventually, she had a fire built up, and she sat down next to it, hugging her knees to her chest. It was almost like the pilgrimage.

She gave a long drawn out sigh.

"I can't believe I still haven't forgotten you, even though it's been five years, meanie pants. I did everything I could to."

She said it somehow lightheartedly, but there was a definite undertone of seriousness.

"I did everything I could to forget you. I traveled all over Spira, looking for adventure and action. I looked up old boyfriends, went everywhere, did everything. But no matter what, when I fell asleep at night, it would be you I'd be thinking of. I even tried to pretend it had never happened. I allowed myself to act even more immature than I did on the pilgrimage. I tried to make myself younger, perkier, and happier. All the things that used to annoy you. You know, like trying to get back at you, even though you were gone."

"You know, you're still in my dreams all the time. And I don't go to the Farplane at all. Not that I used to go before. But, I just don't want to see you there, you know?"

Silence.

"Because then it's like I'm giving up. Like I never really will see you again. Like you really are…"

She didn't finish her sentence out loud, but the thoughts were there in her head.

_Dead._

She sighed and lay back, looking up at the stars dotting the sky. Her knees were bent and her back was laid flat on the ground.

"When he came back, I looked around for you too. It thought that if maybe he'd found a way to do it, maybe you had too."

Her voice got softer, hurt.

"It wasn't until about a year later when I realized, maybe the reason you didn't come back was because you didn't want to."

Suddenly, her voice rose, and so did she. She screamed into the emptiness, as the winds picked up, blowing her braids and hair every which way.

"I hated you! I couldn't believe you'd just leave me like that! You confused me all the time! I could never understand you. Sometimes you'd be silent! Sometimes you'd be gruff! You were always scolding me with your words or your eyes or something! But…"

Her anger started to slip away, and she unceremoniously fell down onto her butt as tears started to slip down her face. Her voice went soft again.

"But no matter what, you were there. Whenever I was hurting really bad or when I was just cry-my-eyes-out-until-they-swirl-the-other-way sad, you would be there. You wouldn't say anything, but you didn't have to. I just felt safer and stronger when you were there. And the few times when I'd almost totally given up, you… you held me."

Her next words were filled with wonder, and though her eyes were still filled with tears, they did not fall.

"You just… held me and made me feel okay. Like everything was going to be fine and nothing would hurt me. And you were always mumbling things into my ear, right when I was falling asleep so I was never completely sure what you were saying. But I think you told me once…"

_I love you. I love you my Al Bhed princess, my bouncy, hyperactive, over zealous Rikku. I love the green in your eyes, the blond of your hair, the way you move as though you're dancing to the music of life that's always playing in your head. I love the way you never shut up, the way you care so deeply for Yuna, the way that you're always smiling, no matter what. I love how you try to be Lulu, when being yourself is enough. I love you, and my love will last longer than Spira, longer than anything you or I have ever known, long past the time my heart stops beating. It already has. In the Farplane, in the farthest reaches of Spira, no matter what, you shall be the one that resides in my heart, and my mind, and my soul. Rikku, though I can never tell you all these things, I love you._

Rikku shook her head.

"Never mind, I was probably dreaming then. I'm sure you never actually said that you loved me."

She gave a quiet chuckle, sniffling and wiping away her tears on her pretty bow covered sleeves.

"Well, I'm off, Auron. Pops is gonna pick me up in a bit, and then we're going to go help out Gippal with some machina. I'm still a sphere hunter, sort of. But I'm a lot more interested in machina than I used to be. It… takes my mind off things too."

She laughed again, as she stood up, dusting herself off and killing the fire.

"I'm sorry I acted like a kid after the pilgrimage. But, somehow I felt it was right to try and piss you off. I mean, I was the one left to help make things better. I had to help dry Yunie's tears, and she never would have been able to look forward if she saw that I was crying too, you know? I had to do it without you, without you holding me."

She smiled apologetically into the night.

"I'm tired of that act now, though. I'm definitely going to let myself grow up."

Her eyes sparkled as she turned around, looking toward the airship landing farther away. The amusement in her tone was blatant as she left her parting shot.

"But not too much, you know? I've still got to piss you off a little."

With a quick shake and hop, she bounced back toward the airship.

The winds howled in Zanarkand that night. Several monkeys ran across the crest of the hill, trying to find shelter in the ruins. One of them, intrigued by a sphere, had brought it along, hiding it in the chamber of the faith along with the other members of its family.

When the monkeys woke up the next morning, the sphere was gone.

On the Farplane… 

"Hey, Stiffy, I got something to show ya."

Auron's one russet eye turned harshly on his friend.

Jecht tossed the sphere into the air and caught it with a smirk.

Braska shook his head, hiding his own grin.

"What is it, you perpetual drunk?"

Auron had become rather more talkative and a little less subtle on the Farplane.

Jecht tossed it to him, and without thinking, Auron's arm shot out to catch it.

Braska laughed as he pulled Jecht away.

"Let's leave our friend to watch his sphere in peace."

Auron sighed. Spending the rest of eternity with his "friends" was not exactly the rest he had been looking for. Though part of his unrest could have been because of…

No. He would not go down that well traveled road of thought. He looked at the sphere curiously. Perhaps this would take his mind off of _her_.

Of course, Auron had no such luck. It was her, all of her, dressed even more scandalously than before. Of course, he knew that, watching her all the time from the Farplane. And it had hurt him to see her. He didn't like watching. In fact, he'd stopped watching her about two years ago. It had been too much, seeing her and knowing that he could not have her. And he had wondered, many times, if the ditzy seventeen year-old was really the older version of the young girl he'd fallen in love with. Even Braska had winced several times as he watched Yuna's lack of maturity.

In the end, things had turned out all right. And Tidus had left them.

She mesmerized him as he watched the sphere, taking in every curve of her body as she bounced, wishing he could wipe away every tear, watching as the wind blew her braids every which way. A smile quirked at the corners of his mouth as she left her parting shot and as she bounced away.

Her skirt had ridden up just enough.

Auron tucked the sphere away, into his coat, keeping it near his heart.

Jecht and Braska came back to find their friend watching Spira.

Braska spoke quietly, his tone serious, but not so heavy.

"My friend, the fayth have decided that my niece deserves a reward as well."

Auron's head shot up.

Jecht was obviously trying to sound like his cheerful arrogant self, but there was a hint of melancholy in his tone that he could not hide.

"Yep. You get to go back. Whoopee."

Braska nodded as Auron stood up to look at his companions in wonder.

"You mean?"

They both nodded.

Auron closed his eyes and nodded as well.

"My friends, I"

They cut him off.

"Go on, Stiffy. That hot little blonde girl is waiting for you. But that Gippal guy looks like he might be trying to make a move on her while they're under that machina… There! Did you see his hand?"

Auron bid them a hasty farewell.

Braska and Jecht watched him run uncharacteristically hurriedly, as though the older man had just gotten high off one too many Hastegas.

"Did you really?" started Braska.

"No, but if I hadn't said that then he probably would have stayed a lot longer trying to figure out the proper way to say goodbye and take so long that she'd be here before he left. And my time would have been totally wasted," said Jecht with a hearty laugh.

"What do you mean, time? I thought you told me to tell Auron that the fayth said that they would give Rikku a reward."

"I did because they did. I just had to, eh, encourage them to."

Braska's quiet amusement was blatant in his soft words.

"You mean you challenged them to a drinking contest and won."

Jecht laughed again.

"Well, you know, those fayth don't know how to hold their liquor."

The two laughed, one loudly, one quietly.

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What I always say about reviews being luffed. 

-Hajan Rana


	3. Chapter 3

Hey, I didn't lie. This is the end.

Oh frick, I forgot:

Disclaimer: Why would I write **fan**fiction if I owned Final Fantasy X and X-2 and its various characters?

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_The Oasis… Bikanel Desert_

"Alright, Cid's girl. Desa vun y pnayg."

Rikku arched one fine brow.

"E tu ryja y hysa, oui ghuf. Oui drehg oui't ghuf ed po huf, Gippal."

She shook her head, ignoring the handsome young man next to her. She raise both arms into the air, stretching. With a loud groan, she started walking toward the water, her hips moving ever in an ever so slightly seductive way, but without meaning to. She just happened to encourage familiarity without being exactly sluttish.

Gippal watched her with a smirk, his one eye roving over her body. His smirk grew somewhat wider as she entered the water.

"Mm, this feels so good."

"I bet," he said, walking toward her and the water.

"Rikku."

A gruff voice was heard that definitely did not belong to the perky Al Bhed girl or her mischievous and attractive companion.

Rikku rose up out of the water, her hair dripping wet and droplets of water clinging to her body. She quickly shook her head, sending droplets every which way, rubbing her eyes and blinking quickly.

"Is that…?" said Gippal with some astonishment. _The legendary guardian?_

Auron gave a snort of contempt watching the both of them.

"Hmph. I guess you're busy then." He turned to walk away, his huge masamune slung over his shoulder like always, that ever present jug of sake at his side.

"Auron!"

She couldn't believe it. This wasn't real. This was something that only happened in dreams. She ran toward him, eyes wide. He turned just in time to watch her trip over a rock.

His arms shot out and caught her, bringing her to his chest.

"It's you…" she said disbelievingly. She blinked several more times, trying to understand the feel of warm,sturdy, and firmarms around her, the strong not exactly sweet but not exactly pungent smell of him, the fact that he was getting wet as well.

He gave a soft chuckle, low and gruff like it always had been.

"Yes, it's me."

Without another word, he tilted her chin up and leaned down to catch her lips with his.

It was several minutes later that Gippal cleared his throat, reminding the two that they were displaying a wonderfully fierce game of tonsil hockey.

"I think I'll go," said Gippal, nodding. He took off, only a little disappointed that Rikku wasn't his. Eh, he was good looking, strong; he could easily find another girl. They really were better off as friends anyway. Besides, he knew that Rikku had always had someone else clinging to her heart; he'd just found out now who it was.

The couple sat down near the water, beneath the ledge that jutted out above them, providing shade. Leaning against him, Rikku felt a myriad of emotions. She felt her blood rushing, her head reeling, her knees becoming jelly, and her heart beating like it was ready to explode. She couldn't find any words to describe how she felt, so she simply grabbed Auron's neck, and pulling his face down toward hers, kissed him again.

Auron smirked somewhat into the kiss. This had been everything he'd fantasized and more. His arms wrapped around her waist tightly as his hands started to explore her skin, starting their expedition at the small of her back, underneath her sopping wet clothes. His calloused, rough fingers made her skin tingle with excitement and gave her new sensations she'd never gotten from anyone before.

For now, no words were spoken. Their bodies were telling each other enough. But they would have enough time for talking, for arguing, for smacking, for scolding, for the words that needed to be said.

Gippal had taken the hover and there was nobody else around.

The two would be stuck there for quite a while.

I don't think they minded.

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The end. Erm, was it really bad? I sigh because it's something that was sort of half-baked that couldn't really be cooked. Strange analogy, I suppose, but I think it's also because I tried writing while somewhat tired and cracked. Oh well. I think the only thing I really like about the story myself was that one line in the second chapter about Rikku 'cry-until-my-eyes-swirl-the-other-way-sad'. I don't know why, but I love that line. Again, oh well. Reviews please.

-Hajan Rana


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